Angel 6X05: Freak Show
by hellsbuttmonkey
Summary: Angel and the gang run into an old face who needs help. But is everything exactly what it seems? Episode 5 in my ongoing Angel Season 6. Please read and review!
1. Chapter 1

**Freak Show **

**Chapter 1: Static Shock**

_Cleveland, near the Hellmouth..._

Two girls aged roughly sixteen fought. On the ground lay the body of a middle aged man, dressed in a suit. Sticking from his back was a curved dagger.

"You killed him Tina!" yelled one of the girls. "You murdered our Watcher!"

"It was his own fault, Jenny." said the one called Tina. "He refused to tow the line. I was only following orders."

Jenny lashed out at Tina with a vicious roundhouse kick, but Tina was too fast for her. She dodged the kick, and drove her knee into Jenny's stomach. Jenny stumbled, and as she fell to the ground next to the dead Watcher, she pulled the blade from his back to defend herself.

"You are going to pay for this Tina! When Buffy finds out..."

Tina calmly pulled another dagger from her belt, and thrust it at Jenny.

"Buffy won't find out anything."

Jenny blocked the dagger thrust, but failed to notice the blade in Tina's other hand, until it was driven into her stomach. Jenny fell, and slumped into the dirt.

"Not yet, anyway." said Tina.

_Hyperion Hotel, Los Angeles..._

"It's too bloody quiet." said Spike. "I don't like it."

"What would you prefer?" Angel said. "We could always try and kill the Senior Partners this time, you know, _really_ piss them off, if you are that bored.."

Spike brushed off Angel's comment and continued, "You know what I mean. Can't you feel it? Something ugly is coming this way."

Suddenly the doors of the hotel swung open. In the doorway stood a beautiful woman with long brown hair, wearing tight black leather trousers and matching top. Her lower arms were covered completely with long black gloves.

"Well, maybe not ugly..." Spike said.

Spike looked at the woman and made his way over to her.

"My name's Spike and I'm in charge here." he said, reaching for her bare arm. "How may I be of serv... ARRRGH!"

Spike was blown across the room with a massive electrical burst.

Angel looked at the blonde vampire with a slight smirk on his face.

"Spike," he said. "Meet Gwen Raiden."

"Angel," said Gwen. "Its been a while."

Spike got up from the floor and made his way over to Angel and Gwen.

"What the bloody hell was that?!"

"I'm a freak," said Gwen. "My whole body is electrically charged. You can't touch me without getting a bit of a shock."

Spike looked at Angel with anger in his eyes.

"You sodding knew about this?"

"Whoops. Must have slipped my mind.." said Angel. He turned back to Gwen.

"Anyway, I thought you had that device that stopped that from happening now? Wasn't that what you and Gunn stole?"

"Yeah, but it ended up breaking down. Looked like the thing was only a prototype, designed to work for a little while. It was fun while it lasted."

"So what can we do for you now then?" said Spike.

"I need help Angel." she said. "Something is killing off all the freaks in L.A."

"Is it a demon of some kind?"

"No. Its human. Some kind of genetic purity Nazi group."

"I think I have heard of these guys." said Angel. "They're not big fans of vampires, werewolves or other demon half breeds either."

"It's not just me that needs help this time as well Angel. I have been working with some other freaks. Ones that live in the sewers. They call themselves the Freak Show. They keep out of everyone's way, don't harm anyone, and just use their powers to survive. Recently some of the members have been disappearing while they were out getting food."

Angel had never seen such a look of concern on Gwen's face before.

"Spike, go get Oz, Laura and Faith. It's time to go to work."


	2. Chapter 2

**Freak Show **

**Chapter Two:Wade A Minute...**

Angel and Spike went with Gwen to the Freak Show tunnels. They had left Oz and Laura back at the hotel researching, while Faith hit the streets, looks for clues about the mysterious 'Genetic Nazi' group that Gwen had described. Gwen led them deep into the sewers underneath L.A, into places Angel had not even entered.

"How do you two know each other then?" said Spike

"Well, we were both trying to steal the same thing." said Gwen.

"I wasn't stealing it!" exclaimed Angel. "I was just borrowing it."

"Yeah, tell it to the judge." said Spike.

"We're here." said Gwen.

Gwen pushed open a panel on the side of the sewer wall, and a secret door opened. Inside was a large open area filled with tents and hovels, making up a small shanty town. About ten to fifteen people seemed to live down here, all with abilities that made them shunned by the world above. Some of them had obvious differences, deformities that made them look more demonic than human. Other differences were more subtle, like Gwen's abilities. They could pass as normal humans, but they chose to dwell below ground and be allowed to be who they are. A young girl of about eight or nine, whose body was covered in thick black hair, ran over to Gwen.

"Miss Raiden!" shouted the girl. "I'm glad you're back. I thought the bad men might have come for you."

"Hi Tina." said Gwen. "I'm glad to see you too. Can you run and tell Wade that I have brought the help I promised?"

As Tina ran off, Gwen turned to Angel.

"Wade is the leader of the group down here. He's tough, the best fighter they have. His gift made him pretty much indestructible. But it also made him kinda crazy."

"How do you mean?" said Angel.

"Well, as far as we can tell, his cells are constantly regenerating, meaning he can't take any real damage without healing it up. But it also acts like a cancer, and left his skin disfigured. It won't kill him, but the pain that he first felt as his body started to be twisted, it left him a little unhinged."

"And this guy is your leader?" said Spike. "This should be a barrel of laughs. You got a negotiator here with Tourettes as well?"

"We don't need a negotiator here bud." Said a voice from behind them. "We need someone who likes to party hard, and I mean the kind of parties only sadists, masochists and Angelina Jolie would go to."

Angel and Spike turned to see what looked like a ninja standing there. His face was completely hidden by a black mask, as was his entire body. Across his back were a pair of swords, and strapped to his thigh was a long dagger.

"Wade, I presume?" said Angel.

"You presume correctly Mr Vampire." said Wade. "Wade Pool, at your service. Which one of you is Angel, and which one sounds like a cartoon dog?"

Meanwhile, Laura and Oz were researching using the Council database to find anything on this group that was hunting the freaks. So far, they had had no luck.

"My eyes are so tired." said Laura. "I'm starting to think the Council have nothing on these guys."

"That makes me think they are a recent group then." said Oz.

"Why would they want to be hunting the freaks?" mused Laura. "Do you think they mind being called freaks?"

"Gwen used it often enough."

"Very true. I wonder why we have heard nothing from the Council yet? Its been at least two hours since we called. Its been getting harder and harder to reach anybody there these days."

Back in the Freak Show tunnels, Angel had just stopped Spike from killing Wade.

"If he calls me a bloody puppy one more time, we are gonna sodding see just how much damage ninja boy can take!"

"Spike, cool it." Angel turned to Wade.

"What's your story then? I wouldn't expect to find someone like you hiding in a rat filled tunnel. Not normally where you would find a hero."

"You hung out in one for ages didn't you?" said Spike.

Angel shot an evil look at the younger vampire.

"First of all," started Wade, "I'm no hero. I'm just looking after this lot until we can deal with those Nazi nutjobs. An' I got my reasons to hide. Used to work for the government. They used to kidnap freaks like us and make them do hardcore missions, ones regular troops would probably die in. They took me when I was sixteen, trained me, and turned me into an assassin."

"Sounds like the bloody Initiative to me." said Spike.

"Eventually I busted out, and took a few others with me. They have been hunting me ever since. Nice to know how wanted I am..."

The doors to the Hyperion opened, and Faith strode in. Laura looked up from the computer.

"Anything?"

"A whole lot of nothing, with a side of zip." said Faith. "Heard anything from Angel and Spike?"

"Nothing. Heard nothing from Giles either. Oz is calling again now."

Perfectly on cue, Oz walked through the door of Angel's office back into the lobby.

"You speak to Giles?" Laura asked.

"No, put through to someone else. We have a bit of a problem."

"What did they say?" said Faith.

"The guy I spoke to, he said Giles' orders are not to interfere with either side under any circumstances. They are humans and not our fight."

"You have got to be kidding me right?" said Faith. "Who did you speak to? There has to be some kind of mistake."

"The guy said his name was Wood. Robin Wood."


	3. Chapter 3

**Freak Show**

**Chapter 4: Degeneration X**

Gwen led Angel and Spike deeper into the Freak Show tunnels.

"I think its time you met some of the other muties that can help us in a fight."

Gwen, Angel, Spike and Wade turned a corner, and made their way through the living areas. Before them was a dark, damp area where freaks were training.

"Meet our front line." said Gwen.

She lead them over to a massive individual, a man who stood the height of the Beast. His skin was ruddy brown and his body was twice as wide as Angel's, and was covered in huge muscles.

"This big lad is Jason." said Gwen. "We mostly call him Brick, 'cos running into him is like hitting a brick wall. He's slow, but incredibly strong."

"He also can't tie his own shoelaces." shouted over Wade, following up with a little chuckle.

"Next up is Mikey Whiplash."

Angel looked at the next guy. He seemed normal enough, a lad of about nineteen, fairly slender, and pretty dirty. He stood with his arms folded behind his back.

"So," said Angel looking at the lad, "What can you do?"

Mikey moved his hands from behind his back, and removed the heavy black gloves he wore. Growing from his wrists were odd sinewy tendrils. They suddenly shot out from his wrists, extending out and grabbing the sword from Angel's belt, and returning it to Mikey's hand.

"That."

"Ha! The kid got you there Angel.." Spike chuckled at the sight of his grand sire being punked by the young mutant, but shut up when he noticed the other tendril holding his sword.

"Kid's pretty good..." Spike muttered.

"Last up," said Gwen, "We have Ratty..."

Gwen pointed to what Angel had assumed was a child, which stood up and threw off the dirty brown robe it wore. Before them stood a figure that at first glance Angel mistook for a werewolf, but on closer inspection had very prominent rodent features. Tufts of ragged, matted brown fur covered the creature's hunched, wiry frame. A short stump of a snout protruded from it's face, with a mouth full of sharp looking teeth. It's hands were twisted, vicious looking claws.

"Ratty don't talk all that much." said Wade.

"So they finally did it! The Council became bigger dicks than they were before." Laura said in the reception of the Hyperion.

"You sure he said Robin Wood?" Faith said, moving uncomfortable close to Oz.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

"Be sure..."

"Faith, what's wrong? Do you Know this guy or something?"

Faith moved back into the centre of the lobby and began to pace. Laura had spent a lot of time with Faith recently, and had never seen her this shaken over anything. In fact, she would have gone as far as to say Faith was the most focused person she'd ever met.

"Robin Wood was the principal at Sunnydale High before the town collapsed. He is also the son of a dead Slayer." said Faith, uncertainty in her voice.

"So why do I think there is more to this Faith?" said Laura. "You look like you've seen a ghost, and old teachers don't do that. Spill."

"We.. we were close. I always kept guys at arm's length before Robin. He was the first guy I ever let really close to me. The out of nowhere he ended it. Said that it wouldn't work, that Giles was sending him all over the world to recruit new Slayers, and he just didn't have time for me any more. It always seemed like there was something else though."

"But still, why would they want to refuse us help?" Oz thought aloud.

"Fido has a point.. I mean, the breakup wasn't bad enough to hold bad blood... especially when it comes to saving the world and fighting the good fight."

Back in the tunnels, Angel and Spike were arranging the group of freaks, ready to repel an attack.

"You need someone on patrol at all times." said Angel. "Someone fast, and quiet."

Spike looked around the area. There were four exit tunnels, leading off in different directions.

"Yeah, and you want to block off three of these tunnels." said the blonde vampire. "cut them off, and you know where the attack will come from."

Suddenly, a younger member of the freaks came running down one of the tunnels.

"They're coming!" screamed the child.

"What happened?" said Gwen.

"We were down that tunnel. Me and Tina. We were playing, and suddenly it came from nowhere, just out of the shadows. It grabbed Tina. She tried to get away... to scream for help, but it... it..."

The child broke down in tears, terrified.

Angel reached for his sword.

"Get those exits blocked." said the vampire. "Gwen, get everyone a weapon, and prepare for one hell of a fight."

He looked down the dark tunnel, listening to the sound of advancing footsteps.

"After the Senior Partners, this one should be easy..."


	4. Chapter 4

**Angel 6X05: Freak show**

**Chapter 4: Heroes?**

In room 140 of the Hyperion Laura and Oz were lying in bed together. Faith was downstairs trying to get Robin back on the phone to speak to him in person, and was working with a certain sense of desperation.

"How much do we really know about the freaks?" Laura asked, sitting up in bed and looking down at Oz. "I hate to be pro-council, but if they don't want us to help them in any way, then maybe they know something evil about them we don't."

"You know, that actually makes sense." Oz replied in his usual tone.

"Don't sound so surprised…"

"After all, the council have worked in some pretty mysterious ways before."

"Oz, what if the freaks really are the bad guys…they've got us helping them no questions asked…what if it's all a trap to get Angel and Spike out of the way…they could have killed our champions already!"

"Let's get Faith." Oz replied, moving with great speed out of bed and into his clothes.

Meanwhile in the freaks base, Spike and Angel could practically smell the panic streaming off everyone. The freaks ran around like lost children, so unprepared for any attack it was unbelievable. Angel drew his sword. He had to organise the terrified mob, or they would all be killed.

"Right, listen up!" Angel shouted. "This is how it's going to go!"

"Got a plan have you?" said Spike.

"We fight."

"Look at the trouble you saying that got us in last time..."

"Shut up Spike." muttered Angel. He turned to the assembled freaks.

"Gwen." he said. "You, Mikey and Ratty head deeper into the tunnels and hide. When they have passed you, and hit the front line, ambush them from behind."

"Who exactly is the front line?" said Wade.

"You, me and Captain Peroxide."

"Oh great." said Spike. "Insults from the poster vamp of Nancyboy Hair Gel Inc."

Angel ignored Spike's jab and carried on.

"Brick, you are the last defense. Guard the entrance to the tunnel with your life."

Angel looked at the rest of the terrified freaks.

"Block the tunnel behind us. And pray."

Just as the team had finished getting into position, the attackers launched the first wave. All of the warriors they faced were completely covered in black cloth. They smelt familiar, but Angel couldn't place where he had encountered them before. They were fast, and almost silent. The lead warrior fired a long spike tipped chain from it's hand, impaling Wade through the shoulder. The freak looked at the spike in his shoulder, and yanked it out.

"Goddamn it! That was my best shirt!"

Wade pulled on the chain, and hurled the warrior into the wall of the sewer. The warriors paused their advance, and the two groups faced each other at the ends of the sewer tunnel.

"On my mark," said Angel, "Hit them hard."

Angel glanced at Wade, then looked at Spike.

"You always get me into some serious fights Angel," said Spike, "did I ever mention that?"

"No need to thank me, Willy." said Angel. He turned again to look at the warriors facing them.

"Mark."

The three heroes charged the warriors as one, swords drawn. The attackers fought well. They managed to evade most of Angel's best shots, but he managed to take down quite a few of them. He glanced over to his comrades. Spike threw himself into the battle as always, taking down plenty of the ninja warriors. Wade just seemed to be enjoying either causing damage or receiving the pain dealt to him. Soon the sheer weight of numbers was pushing the team back towards Brick, and the base.

"Bring on the backup!" Angel shouted, and on his words, a tendril lashed from nowhere around the throat of the ninja, throttling it. Ratty leapt from the shadows, raking his vicious claws down the back of the nearest warrior, and snapping its neck. Gwen stepped out from her hiding place, and pulled off her gloves. She kicked one of the warriors in the face, and in one fluid motion grabbed it's head, sending a massive electrical charge into it. The warrior was blasted into the wall, and began to crackle with power. Curious, Gwen moved over and unmasked it. Whatever it was, it didn't look human. It's face was covered in a solid piece of metal, fused to its skin. Pulling it's shirt away, Gwen found that it was more of the same, metal and circuitry fused into flesh.

"Angel!" Gwen shouted, "These guys are robots!"

"Damn it!" shouted Angel. "Now I remember these guys!"

"Who are they?" said Spike, ducking under a punch from another of the ninja.

"The cyborgs that attacked Wolfram and Hart, the ones who tried to put that spell on me and control me!"

"What the hell do they want now?"

"Lets find out..." Angel said, driving his blade into the stomach of another ninja.

The renewed force from Gwen's team's ambush helped, but they were still fighting against high odds. The ninja had gotten behind Gwen, Mikey and Ratty, and were pushing them all back towards Brick.

"As much as I hate to say this, we might need the others' help here!" Spike shouted over to Angel as he fought back yet another one of the attackers.

Back at the Hyperion, Oz and Laura had filled in Faith with their theory on the freaks.

"Shit, I never thought of that!" Faith said shaking her head, "We need weapons…"

"Rescue mission?" Laura asked.

"Rescue mission." Faith stated, "We can't afford to lose Angel…or Blondie either really."

"Oz, can you track them with your wolf sense of smell?" Laura asked while collecting her bow from the weapons cabinet.

"Shouldn't be too much of a problem."

"Let's go be heroes." Faith said, leading the group out of the Hyperion and into the night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Angel 6X05: Freak Show**

**Chapter 5: Shades Of Gray **

"Oz why is this taking so long?" Faith asked, knowing that every moment counted on whether they would find Angel and Spike before they became the permanent kind of dead. "I thought you werewolves had super smell?"

"Well to be honest I don't have a habit of keeping mental tabs on how other men smell…it would help if we knew where to start looking for them."

"Well, that Gwen said they were living in the sewers, but the sewer system for this city is huge, so I guess that doesn't help much." Laura pointed out.

"Hang on a second, do you see that over there?" Faith said pointing in the distance.

As both Oz and Laura followed Faith's glance, they could see a troop of what could only be described as ninjas heading towards the sewer duct at the end of the street.

"Well that sure doesn't look good!" Laura said reaching for her bow.

"A group of ninjas…and I thought Sunnydale was strange! What will we see next?" said Faith. As if on cue, the trio saw a young boy running outside from where the ninjas were heading. He had a strange purple tint to his face, and as he ran closer to the group they could see his hands…except they couldn't really be described as hands as they looked more like crab claws. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, a chain flung from the midst of the ninjas around the neck of the crab boy, snapping it and killing him instantly.

"Holy crap!" Faith exclaimed.

"I think we've found our freak headquarters." Oz finally spoke up as the group shared shocked glances at what they had just witnessed.

"I'm guessing the vamps won't be far away from an event like that." Laura added.

In the freak tunnels, the ninja were pushing the battered defenders back further and further. The cyborg warriors felt almost no pain, and were stronger than everyone bar Angel and Spike, and with the numbers advantage they had, it looked like the defenders were doomed.

"Angel," shouted Spike as he decapitated another cyborg, "We need backup now!"

Wade ducked under a chain shot, and threw a dagger into the throat of a ninja.

"I got an idea." said the freak. "Brick! Get over here!"

The lumbering juggernaut ran over to Wade like an obedient dog.

"See those men in black over there, Brick?"

The monster grunted in acknowledgement.

"Well they said they are gonna kill all of your pets."

"No. No kill my squashy pets." growled the leviathan. "NO. KILL. PETS!"

Brick suddenly snapped and charged headlong at the ninja cyborgs. Angel and Spike jumped out of his path as he collided with the warriors.

"You let that thing have pets?" Spike said to Wade as Brick started demolishing the ranks of the cyborg.

"Don't be stupid." said Wade. "The idiot just collects all the rats he steps on, keeps trying to feed them or in some cases blow them back into the right shape..."

"He will stop when all the ninja are gone right?" said Angel warily.

"Hopefully." Wade said cheerily. "Its always fun to guess though, ain't it?"

Back out on the street, Faith, Oz and Laura were also fighting for their lives in the thick of the ninja. Oz had shifted into wolf form, and had taken out a fair few of the attackers with his teeth and claws. Laura had managed to kill three with her bow when they had been at a distance, and was now fighting two at a time with her axes in perfect synchrony with Faith's sword strikes. They had trained many times together in Cleveland, and although Faith wasn't usually one for friends, she had bonded surprisingly well with the redhead, and this reflected when they fought.

"These guys can't be human," Laura shouted out to her fellow slayer while delivering a perfect kick to one of the ninja's stomachs, "They're almost as fast as us!"

"That's because they're not." Oz growled in his distorted animal voice.

As Faith and Laura looked over to where werewolf Oz was fighting, they noticed all the ninja he had ripped apart. Metal strew the floor, as they noticed that the ninja also had metallic parts where many of the human organs should have been.

"Only in LA…" Laura muttered as she finished off the last of the cyborg ninja.

"Well that was a nice work out!" Faith exclaimed smiling at Laura, "Ready to see what surprises wait in store behind sewer entrance number one?!"

The defenders stood and stared in amazement as Brick tore his way through the ninja ranks. Soon all of the ninja were crushed by the big brute. Brick suddenly stopped his rampage, and became the gentle beast he was ten minutes ago.

"Metal men no hurt Brick's pets now..."

"I'm glad he's on our side." said Spike.

"Me too..." said Angel, as they both backed away slightly from the massive freak, who had found another dead rat on the floor, and was in the process of squashing it into his pocket.

Angel and Spike turned to look down the dark tunnel.

"You hear that too?" said Angel.

"Footsteps." said Spike. "This ain't over is it.."

Running through the sewers the trio came across some more ninja, but none that caused too much trouble to take out between the three of them. The tunnels were silent and so thoughts of the worst nature ran through their minds.

"We have to get to Angel and Spike," Laura said with concern in her voice.

"We'll save them, don't worry," said Oz with a reassuring tone.

As Faith, Laura and Oz reached a wide-open space in the tunnel, they glimpsed a mound of dead ninja, and a fair few of what could only have been part of the Freak Show group. As the team moved closer they could see Angel and Spike standing next to Gwen and an assort of other freaks all looking ready for a fight.

"Get away from them!" Laura shouted, as she drew her bow and aimed directly at Gwen's head.

"Woah now red, watch where you're pointing that bow of wonders eh?" Spike joked, moving closer to Gwen's side.

"Watch out Angel," shouted Laura, "I don't think the freaks are as defenceless as they say."

"Why?"

"Someone from the Council ordered us not to interfere."

"Who?" said Angel.

"Robin Wood."

"Never heard of him." said Angel.

"I have." muttered Spike. "Wanker tried to kill me back in Sunnydale during the whole First Evil crap."

"Why?"

"Well, I kinda killed his mum a while back when I was evil, she was a slayer. He had a bit of a grudge..."

"Both of us are not well liked by the Council to be honest." said Angel.

"Well, the Council were adamant that you shouldn't come to the freaks' aid." said Laura.

"Did they give a reason?"

"Well, no, not as such..."

"Well screw them." said Spike. "Me and Angel have tussled with these tin men before, and they are bad news."

"Actually Spike, we never did work out if we were classed as the bad guys there..." muttered Angel. He turned to the assembled freaks, warriors and children alike.

"But come on guys." he said. "Look at them. Mostly children and the elderly being protected by a handful of able bodies. They couldn't do anything against the cyborgs."

"Well," said Faith, "We had better get back and see what the Council have to say on it.."

"Yeah." said Spike."Lets go see what the Union of Dandies has to complain about.."


	6. Chapter 6

**Angel 6X05: Freak Show**

**Chapter 6: The Bigger Picture**

"That's it?" Faith yelled down the phone, slamming it down with such force it made the others standing in the lobby of the Hyperion wince.

"So it went well then?" Spike said.

"Damn well, Robin's a jackass!"

"Tell me something I don't know."

"Ok, how about this," Faith said moving towards Angel, "They told me to tell you it wasn't your place to interfere…"

"So we were supposed to just let innocent people get slaughtered were we?"

"Apparently we're here to follow orders, not to play the hero all the time."

"Gee, and I remember when the council were so easy going…" Angel joked.

"Maybe this isn't something that we should joke about." Laura said uneasily.

"So what does this mean?" Oz joined in.

"The council has said we're on a very short leash," Faith said. She turned to Oz, "No offence."

"Going rogue again from the council then are we?" Spike said, turning everyone's attention back to Faith.

"Robin wouldn't tell me anything else, just that we shouldn't interfere, the council has to see the bigger picture…"

"But I still don't understand what big picture they could be talking about," Laura said to Faith as the two slayers were on routine patrol later that night, "I mean, we helped the good guys, what more can they want?"

"I don't know, this whole thing is making me think too much," Faith replied, "I thought I was done with all this Robin shit."

"He really got to you didn't he?"

"Well before Robin, it was just get some and get gone. He was the first guy that I ever connected with and had a real relationship with…"

"That's a little deep for you miss five by five!" Laura joked.

"You see what he does to me! Going all sappy on you like that…and to think he started off as an easy lay after getting out of prison!" Faith joked back.

"Yeah, I mean I don't know how you managed it, locked up for so long! I can imagine you itching for some action!"

"I still got my fair share…"

"But how? You were locked up with only women!" Laura laughed, raising her eyebrow at Faith inquisitively.

"I never said it was with men…"

_At the Council HQ, in London, England..._

Giles sat at his desk in his plush office. It was one of the perks of running the Watcher's Council, having an large, impressive office. He had just started to read one of his books when there was a knock on the door.

"Enter." The watcher said, looking up from the text he was reading.

Robin Wood walked through the double doors. The son of the slayer Nikki Wood made his way to Giles' desk.

"Robin. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"It's Angel."

Giles sat bolt upright at the mention of the vampire who had tortured him for hours.

"He hasn't...?" he said, "Angelus hasn't returned has he?"

"No. But we do have a problem."

"What?"

"The Iron Ninja we contracted to clean out the nest of subhumans. He destroyed them, along with the aid of Spike." He spat Spike's name out with a great deal of venom.

"Didn't anyone try to stop him for god's sake?"

"Yes, but by the time they had contacted me he had already left, and by the time Faith and the others arrived it was too late."

"Are they aware we hired the Iron Ninja to take those animals out?"

"No, I refused to answer anything on the subject of why they were not to interfere."

"Good." said Giles. "Ensure it stays that way. We can't have them getting in the way. Not now."


End file.
